Thursday, October 5, 2017

New interview with novelist Jeanette Watts

During her virtual
book tour, Jeanette will be awarding a doll
dressed in Regency clothing that she handcrafted to a randomly drawn winner.
To be entered for a chance to win, use
the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit
her other tour stops and enter there, too!

Bio:

Jeanette
Watts is a restless soul who has been a library assistant, a secretary, a
television producer, a dance instructor, and a museum theatre assistant. Through
all of it, she has been a writer. But even as a writer, the restlessness
continues: she has written 2 historic fiction novels, a textbook on waltzing,
several screenplays, and now a modern satire set on a college campus. She's
still trying to decide whether her next book is going to be more historic
fiction or a children's book about the guardian angel who lives downstairs.

Welcome back to Reviews and Interviews.

Thank
you for having me back!

Please tell us about your newest
release.

Jane Austen Lied to Me is a modern satire. The time: today.
The place: somewhere in America. The heroine: just your average American girl
with a huge crush on Mr. Darcy.

What inspired you to write this book?

My husband
and I were driving back from the Jane Austen Festival in Louisville. I
mentioned that I was stupid in my choice of era for my historic fiction - it's
set in the Industrial Revolution, and there aren't any re-enactors playing in
that era. I should have done something in the Civil War, or Jane Austen's time,
then I would know how to go about finding the people who would want to read my
book.

"So,
why don't you write one?" my husband asks.

That did seem
to be the obvious next course of action, but as we drove and I thought about
it, the story that I wanted to tell wasn't set in the past. It's about me as a
Jane Austen fan, not about Jane Austen herself.

Excerpt from Jane Austen Lied to Me:

This afternoon I got further confirmation that I’ve been
seeing an awful lot of Michael. I was wandering back to the apartment, when Lon
hailed me from one of the couches inside the lobby doors.

“I have a message for you from your
boyfriend,” he said, kind of stiffly.

I looked at him stupidly for a
moment. “My what?”

“Your boyfriend was here. He said his phone was dead, so he
couldn’t call or text you to tell you that he can’t stick around for dinner
tonight. He has a late meeting with a new client and he had to rush back to the
office.”

I was still having trouble with the boyfriend thing. “Wait –
do you mean Michael?”

“If that’s the guy you’ve been seeing the last couple of
months,” Lon said with a shrug. “The one you’re always having dinner with.”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” I protested. “He’s an old friend of
the family. We grew up together.”

Lon's head was back at his computer screen. “Boyfriend,
friend. The guy who kisses you goodnight all the time after he takes you out
for dinner. He’s not coming tonight. I’ve delivered my message, that’s all I’ve
got.”

Right then Allie walked up. “Hey,
Lizzie! Waiting for Michael?”

“No, he’s not coming tonight.” I
headed to the elevator with her.

“That’s a shame. I know how much you enjoy having dinner
with him, even if he does aggravate you a lot.”

“Yeah. It’s kind of a love-hate
relationship,” I agreed.

What’s the next writing project?

As I
mentioned in my biography, I'm torn between two stories. I've found a
fascinating woman who lived in New York for the first half of the 20th century,
and I want to write her story. If there are legal problems with using her real
name, I might have to invent a fictional character who coincidentally is a lot
like her.

But, my
landlord from my days living in Pittsburgh passed away recently. The man was my
guardian angel. We lived just upstairs from him in this building that had 2
apartments. It was like living with your favorite uncle. I would come home from
work, and not make it upstairs for another hour because he'd be sitting on the
front porch. He was wise, and funny, and I always learned something talking to
him. He taught me how to negotiate when buying a car. He was also kind; when
both of our cars were having problems, he lent me his truck so we could get to
work, and gave me the name of a retired mechanic who fixed both our cars for
half the price of the mechanics in the area. He swore like a sailor, and shoved
the snow for the 80-year-old lady who lived across the street. He loved
gardening, and grew basil for me. I would turn it into pesto, and give him jars
of pesto.

He was a
lovely soul, and he needs a children's book about him. I'll kind of have to
leave out the swearing part, of course.

What is your biggest challenge when
writing a new book? (or the biggest challenge with this book)

Time. Always
time. I'm in the process of relocating from Dayton, Ohio to Charlotte, North
Carolina right now. We got my husband an apartment so he could start the new
job, and I've spent the past year cleaning out the basement of things we
shouldn't have bothered to move INTO the basement 18 years ago. And plastering.
And painting. And making sure my dance companies have everything they need to
continue without me. And giving away closets full of costumes from my dance
companies. And throwing out my scrapbooks from 4th grade. Trying to get this
book finished in the midst of all this has been crazy -- or maybe it's the only
thing keeping me sane.

If your novels require research – please
talk about the process. Do you do the research first and then write, while
you’re writing, after the novel is complete and you need to fill in the gaps?

All of the
above! I have an idea, it requires some research to get the book started. While
writing, things come up. Got to ask some questions, get some answers. After the
novel is done and the editing process starts, the people who read the
"finished" draft always have questions that require more research.

Funny thing
is, I wrote Jane Austen Lied to Me to
be sort of a mental vacation from the historic fiction. But it turned out to be
just about as much research required. I have been out of college for a long
time, and even though I teach at the college level, there were still things I
don't know about being 17 in 2017. Fortunately, since I teach at the college
level, I had plenty of primary source material when I needed questions
answered.

What’s your writing space like? Do you
have a particular spot to write where the muse is more active? Please tell us
about it.

Actually, I
like a variety of spaces. I like to write in pretty places; looking at the
ocean, hiding in a cabin in the woods, on the veranda of a winery overlooking
the vineyards. Hotel lobbies can be wonderful places to write, if the hotel is
unique and has some comfortable seating. I do the majority of my writing at
home, sitting at my messy desk. But when I find the emails and phones and
distractions of home getting in the way of getting any writing done, I create a
writing retreat for myself.

What authors do you enjoy reading within
or outside of your genre?

While I write
historic fiction, would you believe I don't read it much? I adore biographies.
Just read Ron Chernow's Alexander
Hamilton a little while ago. (I still have yet to see the play, although I
can sing all the songs!) Writing historic fiction is just an excuse to read biographies.
I know the people I write about. My
previous book, Brains and Beauty, is
a romp through the Who's Who of 1880s Pittsburgh and New York. There are cameos
with Clay Frick, Andy Carnegie, his less famous brother Tom, Andy Mellon, H.J.
Heinz, George Westinghouse (the most underrated industrial genius America has
ever produced, by the way), Alva Vanderbilt, and THE Mrs. Astor. I've read all
their biographies. I've read multiple biographies on most of them. I'm a
vintage dancer, I have danced at Beechwood in the ballroom of Mrs. Astor's
summer cottage at Newport in Rhode Island. You can call that research if you
like, but for me it's all for pure joy.

While the
topic draws by attention more than the author, I do love Allison Weir and David
McCullough and Shelby Foote.

Anything additional you want to share
with the readers today?

Actually, I'd
appreciate it if the readers would share with ME: if anyone wants to find my Jane Austen Lied to Me Facebook page,
and tell me their favorite restaurants in Charlotte, or favorite things to do,
I would appreciate some recommendations!

4 comments:

Good morning, and thanks for having me! I'm writing this while the movers are taking the contents of my bedroom out to the moving van, then they are coming for this computer! My apologies for anyone checking in this afternoon, if I can't steal my neighbor's Wifi, I'll try to check in again tonight from the library or some other place with Wifi...

I'm listed!

Blog Tour Partner - Goddess Fish

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About Me

I'm a NH native and love New England. I love writing about the region, exploring it on foot, on my bicycle, and in my car. There are so many small communities and fun and interesting people in this area, that I could be here a lifetime and not do all it is I want to do. :)

I'm a moderator at The Writer's Chatroom that hosts live chats with guest authors on Sunday nights 7-9PM EST. Join the e-mail list to get notifications of upcoming guests, then stop in and join the conversation!